A Day at Inner Fire

Students arrive around 8:30. There’s still some time before the day starts—it’s good to settle in without a rush and catch up with friends. Once the chime rings for morning meeting, we all gather in a circle. Students can share updates, sometimes teachers have announcements, and then every day there’s five minutes of meditation. It’s a challenge to see if we can learn to control our bodies and practice stillness.

The first class of the day is English. The upper class is reading Hatchet for their novel study, while the younger class is practicing reading and phonics. The TA is working closely with early readers, while the more advanced youngers follow the Lead Teacher.

After the first class, we go outside for recess. The morning has the hardest classes, it’s good to break things up with time outside. The class walks two blocks to In Chan Kaajal park, which has a large play structure area and an open grass field. Sometimes the kids all play one big game together, sometimes they break off into groups. The teachers are there but relaxed; this is intentionally unstructured time for the kids to run free and build social confidence on their own.

Returning from recess after ~35 minutes, we now start our 2nd Language + Math rotation. Inner Fire offers Spanish and Mandarin as language options—students must take at least one and can choose to take both. The time is split into three half-hour rotations. The beginner Spanish students heads to one class, the intermediate Chinese students to the other, each taught by a native speaking guest teacher. The remaining kids get their math books and find table or couch space in the communal areas. Each student has a different math book based on their level: some are years ahead, others aligned with their grade, occasionally some come in a bit behind. The non-language teachers and TAs rotate among the math workers, supporting each 1:1 as needed. After 30 minutes we switch! It’s time for intermediate Spanish and beginner Chinese. Math students move to one of the two; language students move to either the other language or math. Then after another half hour we switch one more time (some students have two languages, others just get extra math time and can read or do other work if they finish early).

After rotation is lunch. We have lunch indoors, and students bring their own food. The first 15 minutes is for eating, with students choosing to either sit in a big group or split off with a friend. Then students who have finished their food can play indoors: some choose games like chess or Pokémon, some make art, some just chat or have imaginative play. There’s a 2 minute warning to let them know to start cleaning up.

After lunch there’s social studies, which is mostly history alongside geography, civics, and economics. Our class has a student government, with elected representatives, bills that can be voted into law, and a supreme court. But the government isn’t convening today, instead we are learning about the Civil War through an interactive choose-your-own adventure simulation of what the life was like for a soldier.

Next there’s PE, perhaps the most popular class at the school and also the only class we do as one big group across all ages. We walk three blocks to Franklin Square park, which has a big open soccer field. Every PE class starts with a couple of warm up laps. (At the start of the year some students were reticent, but its just something we all do—by year’s end most of the class has come to enjoy it.) Then we have stretches, follow by a short individual game, often tag or a relay race or skills challenge. For the last part of PE, there’s a bigger team game, which can be a classic like capture the flag or dodgeball, or some of our own inventions (noodle field hockey is a favorite). The kids love to play, and beyond the health and athletic benefits these games are an excellent source of social emotional growth. Students learn to balance competition and camaraderie, resolve rules disputes, and work together as teammates in supportive rather than critical ways. Families often choose Inner Fire for the academics, but I think our PE class is just as impactful if not more.

After PE we stay at the park and flow straight into recess. Some students go with a teacher to the playground area, others say on the field and organize their own sports and games. By the time we head back to class, we will have been outside for 90 minutes; it’s time well spent.

The last class of the day is art. We complete between ten to fifteen projects over the year, across sketching, painting, and sculpture. Our primary goal is to have fun while making something that brings us joy. There’s not grades, but there’s an expectation that we work with love and care on our creations. The staff participates too, role modeling that having fun making art is something for all ages.

We finish the day with class cleanup and closing meeting from 3:00-3:15. Each student has a specific cleanup job that rotates daily (e.g. wipe down tables, empty trash bins, sharpen pencils etc.). The class as a group earns a “Firebucks” allowance for good cleanups, which can be saved and invested or spent to buy snacks or small toys-building financial literacy through direct experience. One year some of the older students discovered they could start a casino and sell bad bets profitably to younger students—we shut that down, but it was a good learning lesson all around. In our closing meeting, students share and highlights or challenges from the day, we remind them of any homework, and finish with a short cheer.

Then there’s more time to play and socialize until pickups arrive. For parents who aren’t in a rush, we enjoy chatting with them and sharing highlights from the day. The students are more than happy to have added time with friends while parents socialize. By 3:45 everyone is gone and our day is done!

Sebastian, 2025-26